Folding mat



June 29, 1965 w. J. PEARSON 3,191,509

FOLDING MAT Filed Jan. 12. 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR MW/am J. Pearson ATTORNEY INVENTOR W/Y/Iam J. Pearson ATTORNEY United States Patent O FOLDING MAT William J. Pearson, Bethlehem, Pa., assiguor to Bethlehem Steel Corporation, a corporation. of

Delaware Filed Jan. 12, 1961,Ser. No. 82,204

3 Claims. (Cl. 94-8) This invention relates to a reinforcing bar mat for concrete highway construction, which mat is of the type having hinged bar, rod or wire fabric leaves.

It is an object of this invention to provide a road mat of reticular metal fabric which can be folded for shipment and opened for final use very easily and quickly, and which will not become accidentially disconnected under any normal conditions.

Another object is to provide strong and dependable hinge elements of tightly connected eyes formed integrally from the rods of the leaves themselves.

Still other and further objects, purposes and advantages of this invention will appear herein after the specification and claims, and in the two (2) sheets of drawings annexed hereto.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of a foldable reinforcing mat in fully open position, which mat is hinged in accordance with the invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged top plan view of a portion of said opened mat;

FIGURE 3 is a top plan view of a similar portion of the mat in folded position;

FIGURE 4 is a transverse vertical section taken on the line 44 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a detail side elevation of the assembled eyes of a single hinge element; and

FIGURE 6 is a detail top plan of the assembled eyes of said single hinge element.

Referring now to the drawings in more detail, a foldable road mat comprising a pair of reticular units or leaves 2 and 3 is formed by connecting a number of pairs of aligned transverse wires or rods 4 and 5 by their respective hinge portions 6 and 7, arranging said rods in uniformly spaced parallel relation, and attaching a plurality of spaced longitudinal rods 8 at right angles to the aforementioned transverse rods by means of wire clips 9, or by welding or other means at each intersection. As shown in FIG. 4, the sidewise spacing between neighboring longitudinal rods 8 on opposite units when the mat is folded should obviously be sufiicient to avoid unnecessary bulk and interference caused by any of these rods becoming superimposed upon any others.

The hinge end 7 of each transverse rod 5 is offset upwardly as at 10 at an obtuse angle to the plane of its leaf 3 for a distance cor-responding to the rod thickness, being bent therefrom laterally as at 11 and then reversely to form an eye 12 provided with an entrance opening 13, said eye 12 being disposed in a plane oblique to the plane of the leaf 3. The hinge end 6 of each transverse rod 4 is also bent upwardly and reversely to form an eye 14 disposed at a right angle to the plane of the leaf 2 and having an entrance opening 15. Said entrance openings 13 and to each eye must be of slightly smaller width than the diameter of the mating transverse rod of the hinge. Both transverse rods, of course, will normally be of the same diameter. In the case of rods, for instance, the entrance openings 13 and 15 may be wide.

To asesmble the rods, the eyes 12 and 14 of each Patented June 29, 1965 ICC This affords a double lock on the assembled mat so that the eyes, if made with reasonable accuracy, cannot be separated even if the assembled mat is slewed. The hinge can only be disassembled by rotating one or the other of the bars or by forcing the eyes and springing the openings apart.

Once a mat so hinged has been finally assembled, the leaves will lie perfectly flat in both open and closed positions, will not come apart under any ordinary handling, and when embedded in concrete the strength of the hinge will approach closely to the full tensile strength of the rods.

I claim:

1. A foldable mat comprising:

(a) pairs of hinged single transverse rods,

(b) the hinge end of one transverse rod being bent upwardly at an obtuse angle to the plane of the mat and bent laterally and transversely to form an eye,

(c) the hinge end of the aligned companion transverse rod being bent upwardly and rearwardly to form another eye,

(d) the eye on each rod having a constricted throat opening thereto which is normally slightly smaller than the diameter of a mating rod whose eye is received therein,

(e) a plurality of longitudinal rods secured at right angles to the transverse rods,

(f) with each connected pair of transverse rods being in axial alightment in elevation when said mat is unfolded, and in parallel relationship when said mat is folded;

2. A folding mat comprising:

(a) a pair of leaves,

(b) each leaf comprising longitudinal and transverse rod members secured to each other to form a reticulated planar structure,

(c) said leaves being hingedly joined to each other by means of interlocking eyes formed in a plurality of the transverse rod members of each of said leaves,

((1) the eyes in the transverse rod members of one leaf being disposed in planes normal to the plane of said leaf, with the centers of said eyes lying in the plane of the longitudinal rod members of said leaf,

(e) the transverse rods of the adjacent leaf including upwardly-bent portions forming an obtuse angle to the plane of said leaf,

(f) the eyes of the last mentioned leaf being formed in said upwardly bent obtuse portions,

(g) the transverse rods of the leaves being aligned when said mat is unfolded and in parallel relationship when the mat is folded.

3. The method of making a roadway mat from a series of parallel pairs of hinged transverse rods and intersecting longitudinal rods, comprising:

(a) bending the hinge end of one transverse rod upwardly at an obtuse angle to the plane of the mat and laterally and transversely to form an eye,

(b) bending the hinge end of the aligned companion transverse rod upwardly and rearwardly to form another eye,

(c) the plane of the first mentioned eye being inclined to the plane of the mat and that of its companion eye being vertical to the plane of the mat,

(d) forming the eyes of both transverse rods of each pair with constricted entrance throats which are slightly smaller than the diameter of the mating rod,

(e) joining the eyes of each pair by aligning the entrance throats of mating eyes and inserting the eye of one rod into the eye of a companion rod,

(f) rotating one of said rods while its eye is entering the adjacent eye in order to form a hinge therewith,

I I assembled mat.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS Briggs 24--27 Warn 2427 McNeely 15--239 Jenkins 94-8 X Smith 245-9 Jefferson 2427 Crane 245-2 Lufkin 9438 Heltzel 9413 1 White 94-8 X FOREIGN PATENTS 6/84 Great Britain.

10 JACOB L. NACKENOFF, Primary Examiner.

Examiners. 

1. A FOLDABLE MAT COMPRISING: (A) PAIRS OF HINGED SINGLE TRANSVERSE RODS, (B) THE HINGE END OF ONE TRANSVERSE ROD BEING BENT UPWARDLY AT AN OBTUSE ANGLE TO THE PLANE OF THE MAT AND BENT LATERALLY AND TRANSVERSELY TO FORM AN EYE, (C) THE HINGE END OF THE ALIGNED COMPANION TRANSVERSE ROD BEING BENT UPWARDLY AND REARWARDLY TO FORM ANOTHER EYE, (D) THE EYE ON EACH ROD HAVING A CONSTRICTED THROAT OPENING THERETO WHICH IS NORMALLY SLIGHTLY SMALLER THAN THE DIAMETER OF A MATING ROD WHOSE EYE IS RECEIVED THEREIN, (E) A PLURALITY OF LONGITUDINAL RODS SECURED AT RIGHT ANGLES TO THE TRANSVERSE RODS, (F) WITH EACH CONNECTED PAIR OF TRANSVERSE RODS BEING IN AXIAL ALIGNMENT IN ELEVATION WHEN SAID MAT IS UNFOLDED, AND IN PARALLEL RELATIONSHIP WHEN SAID MAT IS FOLDED. 